On the same day Dodger Stadium would have hosted Game6 of the National League Championship Series, two sets of different but equally important processes were beginning.

Upstairs in the front offices, the Dodgers brain trust assembled Friday afternoon to begin the painful job of putting the 2009 season to rest and looking ahead to next season.

Across town, the lawyer for now-former chief executive officer Jamie McCourt was preparing for an imminent legal response to her termination Thursday, possibly as soon as next week.

Caught somewhere in the middle of a sad end of a season and the offseason, a crumbling marriage and a scandal-thirsty media pack were players like Andre Ethier and Jon Garland, who came to the stadium Friday to clean out their lockers, only to be greeted with a strange mix of questions from sports and news reporters.

“We’re a separate entity down in this clubhouse,” Ethier said when asked whether the McCourts’ marital woes would affect the product the team puts onto the field next year. “It’s unfortunate for what they’re going through. It’s definitely a tough situation.”

Later, General Manager Ned Colletti and Manager Joe Torre addressed the McCourt story, and how – if at all – it would affect the club’s operations.

“I’d like to believe that as unsettled as it seems to be right now, that the L.A. Dodgers the last couple years have been a presence, and I’d certainly like to believe that’s not going to change,” Torre said.

Torre reiterated he intends to return to the Dodgers next season, the final year of his three-year contract. Though he will be 70 by the end of next season, he left open the possibility of coaching beyond that.

“I keep saying I’m not going to do it beyond my contract, but I’ve waffled many times before,” Torre said. “It’s something my wife still doesn’t believe me when I tell her I’m going to retire.”

Colletti, who signed a multi-year extension earlier in the week, said he couldn’t comment specifically on how a divorce between owner Frank McCourt and Jamie McCourt might affect the team’s budget for the offseason, but added that “I have no inclination that anything will change as far as how the Los Angeles Dodgers do business.”

When it comes to on-the-field issues, Colletti made it clear that pitching is the top priority for the Dodgers this offseason. But where that pitching will come from is to be determined.

“You’re always looking for more pitching, and if we can find somebody that would fit at the top of our rotation, sure, that’d be great,” Colletti said. “The likelihood of that player becoming available in a trade is very slim. And with regard to free agency … this (free-agent) class to me doesn’t have that type of allure to it. It’s a thin market in my mind.

“We’ll have to continue to grow from within and hope we can do everything we can to help our own people graduate to that level.”

Translation: Youngsters Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley are still the team’s best options for the front of the rotation. And by extension, don’t start envisioning how Angels right-

hander John Lackey might look in Dodger blue yet.

The Dodgers also will need to decide whether Blake DeWitt is ready to take over at second base, or if they prefer to re-sign Orlando Hudson or Ronnie Belliard – both of whom are eligible for free agency – or pursue another second baseman on the open market.

The rest of the position players are either signed for next year or eligible for arbitration.

It would be a surprise if the club non-tendered any of the players in that group. However Colletti said he would look at the group on a case-by-case basis in deciding whether to sign any of those players to long-term contracts.

“I don’t think any of those guys have reached their full potential yet,” he said.

“Have there been strides? Absolutely. As long as they continue to aspire to be great and doing the things to be there, they’ll be here.”

Almost all of the players on that list should receive substantial raises, which will affect how much Colletti can spend on free agents.

Kemp, who made $467,000 this year, stands to earn the biggest raise after hitting .297 with 26 home runs and 101 RBIs. His salary could increase by around 200 percent, based on comparable salaries for comparable players around the majors.

Ethier, who made a base salary of $3.1 million in 2009, could more than double his salary after hitting .272 with 31 home runs and 106 RBIs.

Ringing endorsement

Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly – long viewed as a potential successor to Torre in Los Angeles – is reportedly among the final four in Cleveland’s managerial search.

Colletti intimated that Mattingly definitely would be on the short list when Torre retired and that the organization thinks highly of the former Yankees great.

Torre went a step further.

“Don is very special,” he said, “not only as a person but what he does. The trust he seems to have with the players. I think he will be a good manager; when that time is, I don’t know.

“His name seems to be floating around. I know some people have asked me – not the Cleveland Indians – just some clubs that were thinking about doing something and I’m not trying to hide anything. I think he’s special.

“This organization thinks very highly of him, and I know he enjoys being here.”